Marvel Zombies

[JessieWolf]

Rain occupied herself by pacing back and forth in the gate room. The fact they were waiting on only two people was irritating, the fact that the natives of this world were present instead was even more irritating, she was getting a subtle feeling from them that they were rather eager to be ride of the group of inter-dimensional travelers who had just saved their asses. Particularly from this world's Polaris, which was probably a good indication of what Magneto himself was thinking considering the woman was practically a mirror image of her Daddy's thinking since she didn't think for herself. Frankly she was surprised that Magneto had come to the gate room at all. To Rain, that man's presence was like a vulture, hoping to possibly snap up an extra follower.

Tony Stark on the other hand, his presence was even more annoying because he outright resented the group for wounding his pride by swooping in and doing in barely a single day, what he hadn't managed to do in a few months. They had saved this world and these people RESENTED it! Rain muttered under her breath as she turned to look over at the Gate, which had completed its warm-up cycle and was ready to be activated. She just wanted to be off this world and leave it behind for ever. Let these ungrateful bastards clean up the mess on their own.

Just then, Jarvis' voice came over the com system within the gate room. "Miss Rain, I would like to inform you that I am ready to accept search peramiters for your gate jump, if you are ready to give them." Rain nodded slightly to herself "Thank you Jarvis. A world with breathable air, functional clothes, maybe a white sand beach, little drinks with umbrellas in them..." It was dry humor, but at least she was trying. Really in her mind anywhere but here would be just fine. And in all honesty, she didn't want to say "And infected to fight" but really...that WAS what the others had decided to do. Even if she herself wasn't eager to tangle with anything again for at least a little while.

Landmine almost appeared shocked by her words. The former EHT was completely unaccustomed to hearing any sort of humor from the pyromancer, dry or otherwise. And Nathan didn't seem to know what to think of it. Rain shook her head slightly "Alright alright...Breathable air, traces of infection induced apocalypse. Sound better?" she asked Landmine directly who just sort of looked at her with a retarded puppy expression. She could sense, even with her mind nearly completely closed off, that none of them -really- wanted to go fight more infected, but their sense of duty was compelling them. Jarvis' voice broke contemplative state and the glanced up "I believe I understand the jest of what you are looking for Miss Rain. I will begin the search for an appropriate world. Please wait one moment." She nodded slightly "Thanks Jarvis."

She then turned her attention to the others, many of who had grim faces as if they had made decisions they knew wouldn't be liked. "Alright, time to sound off. And for the record, I don't care what you choose. So don't be wishy washy about it." To Rain's surprise, the first one to move was Landmine, who promptly walked over to stand near the gate. "You may hate me Blaze, but I am going to fight this threat." In Rain's own mind she could hear the complete sentence which Landmine had refrained from saying out loud "You may hate me Blaze, but I am going to fight this threat, it took my wife and kid, my country and my planet, and I will fight it until my dying breath." Rain glanced at Landmine squarely for a moment with her eerie gold and blue eyes, she didn't have to be empathic to see the resolve in the man's return gaze. "Alright, no need for speeches." Rain said, her tone just a hint softer then it normally would be otherwise.

Lupus helped Grace to her feet who seemed dizzy but otherwise perfectly unharmed. The two of them moved to stand next to landmine, the wolf simply saying "I'm in." Grace said nothing, as though she was still reserving her decision for when her brother arrived. She was clearly looking around for signs of her brother, worried that she couldn't see him present in the gate room "Don't worry, he is on his way here." Rain said a bit bluntly to the young woman, who heaved a quiet sigh of relief.

Those that remained on the other side of the room near the door consisted of Fission, the X-Factor group, including Warped who appeared to be mobile now if a bit spacey still, Stark, Magneto and his version of Polaris, and Archangel. She somehow had a feeling that Nah would stay, and he was the only one she even had any words for, out of those present. "Good luck. You have a lot of work to do here." Rain said to the Japanese man who simply bowed in his respectful manner and wished them good luck in turn.

It was about this point that Magneto seemed to lose interest in the goings on in the gate room, apparently having realized there was nothing to gain by staying. He leaned over to his daughter and whispered something to her before turning and stepping out through the door of the gate room, Polaris and Archangel following but not before Polaris whispered something to her other self. Nah, Warped and the X-Factors also turned to leave, they had people to help and there wasn't time to waste, which left only Stark remaining.

As the last of X-Factor left out through the door however, Eric arrived, Grace's face lighting up to see that her brother was indeed okay, and ran over to give him a huge hug, expressing just how worried she was about him. Rain however could feel it. It was almost like looking at an abstract painting of emotion all mashed and swirled together. Anger, shock, fear, the kid seemed unstable, but he was hiding it well. Rain didn't even mean to see THAT much and quickly shook her head as if to clear it. "Eric, where is Jonas..." and as if on cue, Feral stepped in through the gate room door, his head down, and wordlessly made his way over to the group.

Rain narrowed her eyes slightly at the man who had saved her life and it was all too tempting to simply peer into him and find out what was wrong. And she had nearly been about to when Eric spoke "Where is everyone else?" Rain turned to Eric who still had his sister hugging him tightly "This is it kid. The rest decided to stay here." Eric seemed to pause and consider this for a long moment before Rain interrupted him before he even spoke "If you decide to stay here too, that's fine, no one is going to begrudge you. Same for you Grace. If you both decide to stay, that is fine with us."

There was little to no hesitation from Eric "I'm coming." and with those two words Grace's decision was also solidified. She wouldn't leave her bother and her boyfrie.....Lupus to fight alone. She would be right there by their sides and fighting with them. "So am I." She finally voiced out loud.

Rain paused and looked Feral "What about you?" Feral didn't look up, but replied anyway. it was as if he were too ashamed of something to even look any of them in the eye "I'm coming.". Rain nodded "Alright then." her gaze passed over the group that remained. She could see the resolve in their eyes. Each and every one of them planned to die for this cause. In some ways Rain almost felt bad that she didn't really have the same sense of purpose that these few possessed. They were fighting for a reason. For each other. What was she fighting for? She was fighting for fighting's sake. And for Carl's.

Rain reached up and rubbed at her temples a moment before she turned to Stark who had moved over to one of the many control panels in the Gate room, apparently observing the selection process for the Gate jump. "Hey Stark.Watch your back. He might slit your throat when you aren't looking." She was of course referring to Magneto. "And good luck rebuilding your world. Might pop in and check on things one day, so be ready for inspection." Rain sketched a mock salute to Stark who smirked faintly, probably more because a woman was talking to him than the fact he was amused.

"Excuse me, I am sorry to interrupt, but the search has completed and the dimensional coordinates have been inputted into the Gate. Everything is prepared." came the refined British accent. Rain nodded curtly to Stark who reached over and hit a button on the console. Behind them, the Gate came alive with a reverberating electrical hum before a portal materialized, the other side too distorted to make out. "Well, last chance to bail." Rain said as she moved past the others toward the gate and paused directly before the portal. it was entirely possible that on the other side they could be dumped into a war, or perhaps a zombie infested mall, or another werewolf infested local.

Rain took a deep breath and let it out slowly. If the others joined her or not, she was going through this portal so there was no point in lingering. Without another word, Rain took the first step through the portal and vanished from sight. Landmine was next, muttering something about changing his name to Quinn Mallory before vanishing through the portal. Next went Feral, and then Eric and Grace. Lupus stepped up to the portal but paused, glancing back at Stark "Hey Mr Stark? We're sorry. We didn't mean any harm. We just wanted to help." The young Morlock had apparently picked up on the same resentment, and he felt bad. His large wolfin ears drooped slightly and his tone was so apologetic that Stark didn't seem to know what to say. But before he could say anything, the giant white wolf turned and vanished through the portal and it snapped shut, the gate powering down. Stark stood there for a long moment as the electrical hum died away to silence "Good luck..." he said to the empty room before he turned and headed out the door. There was work to do.

***

Rain emerged on the other side of the portal ready for a fight, but what the got was anything but. She stood on a barren blackened ground. Trees that were little more than charred sticks poking out of the ground only minorly obscured the view of what seemed to be large buildings not too far away. The buildings themselves appeared to be just fine. The place also looked familiar. "This isn't....it is....Central Park.." But there was absolutely no sign of life. She heard no car horns, saw no people, she couldn't even hear a single bird.

She turned back toward the portal and the others just as Lupus emerged and the portal itself shut. Rain simply stood there slack jawed staring past her companions. Landmine noticed her expression first as he was nearest "What is it?......" Nathan too turned to look back and was struck with a similar expression. As the others turned to see what it was Rain had been staring at, they were met with a disturbing and eerie sight.

Yes it was indeed Central Park, the entire park had been burned to a crisp and the ground was littered with bones. THOUSANDS of human skeletons. Lupus took a step back, "...Wha...What happened here??" Landmine was the first to reply "It looks to me, like genocide."

Rain turned without a word and started to walk toward the buildings in the distance, Lupus taking note of this "Hey! Where are you going1?" Rain didn't stop walking, but called back over her shoulder "Shopping." Lupus was flabbergasted by the reply "How can she even think of..." Landmine cut him off "Well standing here isn't getting us any answers or any progress so I guess shopping is a start..."

As Rain walked she mentally created a list of things that would have to be addressed and started to prioritize them. Both Feral and Thundershock needed to be confronted with whatever it was that was bothering them at very least, if not each member of the team. Next once that was out of the way, they would need to star looking for clues and find out if it was just New York that was in this completely deserted and lifeless state. Then some course of action would need to be taken. But first, she desperately needed new clothes and boots. "Nice work Jarvis...where is my umbrella drink.." she muttered grudgingly to herself.

[Wyldwraith]

Feral's eagerness to leave the site where he'd committed such a barbaric crime behind only fueled his already strong resolve to pursue the Infection and the monsters either created by it, or who sought to take advantage of it, to the very ends of the Multiverse if that's what it would take to stamp out every last trace of the vile phenomena. So the downcast Biomancer's quiet reply about his decision to continue onward with those of the group also going came as no surprise to any member of the small band of metahuman crusaders. Feral had just opened his mouth and glanced surreptitiously upwards at Rain for just a moment as he'd intended to ask what had been done regarding their badly injured and still "hibernating" dreamweaver and de facto leader, but his highly refined instincts informed him that somehow Carl's slumbering consciousness had been transferred from the decapitated Namor's mind into Rain's own. Mouth snapping shut and eyes still lowered, Feral made his way through the now-active gate once his turn came...without a single glance backwards at the world where he'd proved, at least for a time, that he was not much better than the Infected predators they sought to destroy.

The dimensional transition was very brief, but no less strange an experience because of its brevity. The evolved mutant's keen senses caught numerous ephemeral flickers of what appeared to be a blurred, extremely muddled visual tangle that included thousands of jumbled elements, combined or simply fused together with no rhyme or reason even his faster-than-normal thought processes could see in the fraction of an instant before he emerged from the Gate's exit-portal. Briefly wondering what Carl would have made of the gate travel experience, Feral's by now disciplined mind shoved idle curiosity and unresolved emotional issues into the back of his mind with equal efficiency, knowing the group would need him to remain focused and watchful for potential threats.

The first sensory impression the perceptive mutant received was the (to him) all-but-overwhelming odors of fuel traces mixed with the far more visceral stench of bodies burnt beyond all recognition. Before he'd even turned the required one hundred and eighty degrees as the Gate's portal vanished as the last of their group exited, Feral had a very good idea of what he would see.

Despite the warning given by his sense of smell, the reality laid out at his feet was worse than he could ever have imagined. He'd still been in transit when Rain and Landmine made their brief remarks concerning their surroundings, but even had he heard their words, the sight stretched out before him would have defied such quick and easy summarizing for him.

Bones, thousands and thousands of human bones now burnt black and split to the boiled-away marrow lay jumbled together in small piles that collectively made up the gut-wrenching carpet of burnt out human remains that was the dominating feature of the equally burnt out park's charred center. Feral heard Rain's indication she was going "shopping" to replace her heavily damaged clothing, but he remained frozen and held fast by the horror of what had occurred here. As disturbing as the scene would've been to any onlooker, both for its sheer ghastliness and the horrible implications of the sort of mind-numbing atrocity proclaimed by the scene, to someone possessing a sensory acuity similar to Feral's own, the scene had much more to declare in one broad but detailed statement of inhuman violence.

First came the unasked for mental depiction of how the fire-blackened bones had ended up positioned as they were. Despite a relatively long period of weathering for human remains left exposed to the elements, it was obvious from the completely even, uniformly thick layer of ash and burnt plant matter that aside from wind and rain, nothing had disturbed the seemingly complete skeletons. So far as Feral could determine so long after the fact, there was nothing to indicate the position of the bones indicated anything other than where their owners had finally fallen. No significant drag marks had piled up or unusually depressed the layer of ash that had since grown heavy with moisture and darkened further because of it. No tool marks or splintered ends on any of the bones his gaze fixed on suggested that the skeletons had been moved with any sort of machinery. No matter where an increasingly desperate Feral looked, there was nothing to contradict his initial instinct that the bones remained precisely where their owners had fallen.

Then there was the park's equally total devastation by what appeared to be the same inferno that had consumed every trace of soft tissue on the bodies of the fallen. Trees that were either blackened spikes of dead wood or splintered piles of ashy mounds surrounding burnt-down stumps, and grass burnt so completely that the entirety of the once-manicured lawn's root network had been seared away. It was this detail, one understandably overlooked by the others given the distraction of the grim scene and their lack of his education and field experience as a naturalist that chilled Feral more than anything aside from the still-lingering stench of burnt hydrocarbons. Years as a wildlife biologist and eco-analyst had shown him just how difficult it was to burn ground so thoroughly that even after MONTHS not one seed or surviving root-structure remained to begin the natural process of reclamation in a nutrient-rich burn zone such as this. Feral knew that the natural breakdown of the burnt trees alone SHOULD HAVE resulted in patches of thick grass radiating outward spoke-like from each black stump.

Walking in the direction the others had gone, Feral bent over beside one of the tree stumps at the very edge of the park beside the paved walking trail the rest of the team had cut across in exiting the ruined park. Scooping up a generous pinch of the black and gray ash between thumb and forefinger while rubbing the two fingers together and lifting the result close to his face so he could smell it even more acutely, Feral nearly gagged at the cloying bite of petroleum byproducts that included an undoubtedly huge amount of gasoline, kerosene and...soap? The last scent was unmistakable and almost as strong as the others, but its presence seemed somehow out of place to the perceptive mutant. There was something faintly tugging at a distant memory, but he couldn't place the soap-scent's seemingly out-of-place presence here. With nothing more to do, and a single long look back at the horror contained in the blackened rectangle of burnt earth, Feral quickly caught up with the other as a sudden chill shivered its way through him.

Once he'd drawn even with the rest of the group much of his former hesitance and desire to remain unnoticed and unscrutinized by the rest of the team reasserted itself, but reminding himself that this was part of his responsibilities, Feral turned his head and raised his eyes to look at Landmine a few feet off to his right and called out a question, saying "Landmine, you're a military man. Can you think of any reason the ground in the...the park back there would be saturated with the broken down elements of gasoline, kerosene and a great deal of soap? I mean..I can understand the gas and the kerosene being used as an accelerant to start and feed a big blaze like that...but why mix in a lot of soap? The ground is completely saturated with the burnt leavings of the three substances, mixed all through the ash layer on the ground."

The disheveled EHT member remained silent and thoughtful for several moments, before a flash of disgusted realization that ended in a grimly stoic expression and flat unemotional response let Feral know he wasn't going to like what Nathan had to tell him. Nevertheless, partly out of responsibility to his teammates..and partly for the unknown hundreds if not thousands of people who'd died back there, Feral simply gritted his teeth and waited to hear what the other man had to say as they both kept pace with the rest of the group.

"Napalm. Homemade napalm is made of gasoline and any of a number of kinds of soap. Which explains why the bodies were burnt down to their bones. Likely that whoever did this used something like molotov-napalm cocktails to start the fire, and then just kept pouring the stuff on as the people went down" Landmine answered. "What kind of monster would burn a couple thousand people ALIVE like that!" he exclaimed, talking more to himself than to Feral at this point. Feral didn't reply because he didn't need to. The mutant soldier's explanation had been the key that made what must've happened apparent to the perceptive mutant. The napalm explained why the bodies had been reduced to mere skeletons, and what had kept the fire going once it had exhausted everything naturally combustible within the park. Whoever had done this had somehow pressured the people into gathering closely together, then unleashed flames their victims simply could not extinguish on the poor souls. The entire event start to finish also indicated premeditation. The murderous group that had done this had planned their attack out. There were simply too many signs of premeditation for any other explanation to make sense. They'd known about the gathering in the park, then they'd prepared and carried out their inhumanly brutal campaign of mass-murder. The condition of the park even so long afterward was a matter of massive chemical contamination.

All this explained everything except for the most pervasive and disturbing fact. As Rain had noted before him, Feral noticed that no matter how wide he expanded his clairvoyant observation, everything remained still. Dead. The rest of the Five Burroughs was just as empty as the area surrounding Central Park...though Feral did see signals of bodies decayed almost to skeletons themselves, and a great deal of old brown dried blood anywhere sheltered from the elements and the attendant humidity. Overall it wasn't much when compared with the millions that had made New York City home, at least in their reality, but it did give some indication that the violence in the park wasn't a single isolated instance of brutality.

Unable to search in any greater detail and still keep up with the group while watching for nearby threats, Feral had no idea what the hell had happened to this world. Like Rain however, he thought it best for the group to take care of needs that had gone neglected for the last few months while they had the chance.

"Maybe we'll discover more once we head into some of the stores for supplies" Feral mused, still unable to shake either the deeply unsettled feeling caused by so many empty trappings of civilization, the horror of the deciphered events in the park where they'd arrived, or his own unresolved emotional turmoil due to what he'd done on the last world. All he knew was that something was very wrong, that this "something" most likely had to do with the Infection in some guise if Jarvis's scanning could be trusted, and that they needed to know a lot more than they did right now.

Fast.

[JessieWolf]

Rain stepped out of Central Park and onto the sidewalk, as was apparent from a distance, the street was deserted and the cars were abandoned. Bits of bone were scattered about forcing her to watch where she stepped with her bare feet. "Completely deserted...." She muttered under her breath. She also took note that riot measures on the shops were engaged. Protective metal grates and bars had prevented most of the shops from taking damage from whatever it was that happened. She glanced back toward the others who had been following her.

Three of them were practically just kids...how were they going to fight this plague with three kids, and three adults? She sighed and continued forward into the street. Everything about this place felt...creepy. Especially the burnt Central Park. If this world had been devoured by the plague, why would they burn people? Zombies that like BBQ? She shook her head as she reached the front of a large clothing store. How could she be making jokes about something like this?

Rain reached and swept a hand across the security bars that protected the store's front entrance and they melted away like butter on a hot day before she reached out and opened the door. The amount of dry blood that she found inside the large store was a bit unnerving and a bit too familiar. "Certainly looks like zombies..." But there wasn't anything they could do about it now, was there? This place was already dead, in fact..there seemed to be an aura about this place that screamed "Tainted". She wanted off this world and onto the next one even more than she had wanted off the werewolf world.

As she made her way through the store she came upon several corpses, most of them were little more than piles of bone and scraps of dry skin. Once she had gathered some clothes she removed her jacket and stripped down and quickly redressed in the new clothes. She had also tossed some extras into a backpack, keeping in mind that these clothes weren't designed to tolerate much heat. Now clad in new steel toed boots, jeans, black tank top and even a new set of shades she reached over and pulled her jacket back on and then reached for....."My swords....I left my swords on the last world....FUCK!"

She had been so wrapped up in what was going on after Feral had rescued her, that she had forgotten her swords had been left behind in the main entrance of the base. They were the last vestiges of her past, Weapons she had grown to trust, and she hadn't even noticed they were missing till now. Sighing heavily she grabbed up the bag she had stuffed with a few changes of clothes and headed back out of the store.

When she got back out, some of the others were looking at her as if they thought something was wrong. Apparently they had heard her profanity all the way from outside. "It was nothing...just a...big roach scared the crap out of me." which was a lie of course, they hadn't even seen any bugs on this world yet. "Anyone find any newspapers or something?"

[shadowrunner54]

Eric had his back turned to the others as they all went about doing their own things inside the store. His X-men outfit was extremely worse for wear, being completely ripped away on several spots along his arms and legs, and it likely stunk very bad. Despite all of that, he wasn’t taking it off. The uniform was a connection to his past, but it also served as a reminder for him of everything that he had lost. And keeping that memory alive did one fundamental thing for Eric. It kept his hatred of the living dead burning strong.

As he looked out the store’s windows to the barren ashy wasteland that lurked just outside, he felt that anger deep within him begin to bubble to the surface. As he continued to look outside, Eric felt his lips tightening as he thought of all those bones out there---the innocent men, women, and…children that had died horribly. It was another world gone, just like his own home. Without even realizing it, Eric’s face grew immensely hot as his body fell into nearly uncontrollable tremors.

“Eric.”

Eric’s burning rage instantly subsided as Lupus came to his side. Eric looked up as his now best friend. No words were passed between them for a short time. What was there that either of them could say, when faced with the effects of yet another apocalypse? Eric went back to staring out the window.

“It’s awful, isn’t it?” he said to Lupus. “So many…the way they were lying…they didn’t even have a chance.”

“You don’t think that…”

“What else could it have been?” Eric said in low, dangerous voice as his eyes narrowed the more he looked out at the destruction. “We were too late to save this world too. One or more of those bastards had to come through a gateway. Then they devoured and changed every living thing on this planet into a walking corpse. And now, they’ve probably moved on to another world.”

Lupus gave a sympathetic whimper, but stayed silent beyond that. The words kept pouring from Eric’s mouth as if he had no control over them at all. Even if he did, he wondered if he would have really wanted to stop himself.

“Whenever I think of those…things…all I can remember is everything that they have taken from me. And all I can feel from that is this unstoppable hatred that makes my blood boil, exactly the same way I felt when that god forsaken infection was coursing through my body.”

He turned to Lupus so that they were looking eye to eye. “That feeling will never go away. Not until I’ve destroyed every last one of these monsters from the face of the cosmos.”

Lupus gave Eric a look that he wasn’t quite sure what it meant. But then again, it was sometimes hard to judge Lupus’s wolf like face, and the expressions that he made. He opened his mouth to obviously say something, but was cut off.

“Hey Eric, Lupus.”

Both boys turned their heads to who was calling them. All of the hatred that Eric felt seething inside of him vanished in an instant, replaced by befuddled shock. Grace was standing out in the middle of one of the isles no more than twenty yards away from them, and she wasn’t in her old clothes. Instead, she had put on white dress that was spotted with some kind of yellow flowers. Eric stared at his half-sister in stunned silence as he took her whole appearance in. Seeing her in the dress, Eric became all too aware that his little sister wasn’t a little girl anymore. Her arms and legs were unmistakably longer than a normal girl, but the rest of her body was very much like that of any other human girl her age. And the way the dress molded into her feminine curves, it was undeniable that the dress fitted her almost perfectly. Eric winced when he also realized that the dress had likely been meant to go down to a regular girl’s knees, but with Grace it was more like wearing a mini-skirt.

“Grace,” he croaked out in a weak voice. “what the hell is that you’re wearing?”

[JessieWolf]

Lupus stared slack jawed at Grace for a long moment. “what the hell is that you’re wearing?” and Lupus' reaction was to cuff Eric in the back of the head lightly "What your brother means to say is you look dazzling!" By this point Lupus had already found some discrete place to change back into his bipedal form. He had found a pair of black shorts with a white stripe down the sides as a means to maintain modesty. "Oooh, you should try on one of those red ones! I bet it would look great on you! Right Sonar?" Lupus promptly stepped on Eric's foot deliberately to make sure that he wouldn't say something tight-assed again.

Sure Lupus had a lot on his mind, but he could mope and brood about that when there wasn't anyone around. "You should get changed too Eric. I have a sensitive nose you know. Actually..we are all smelling a bit rank...I wonder if there is still running water..." Lupus paused and furrowed his brow "I don't want your opinion George...and I don't want to talk to you so just be quiet." But the gem had a point, the only reason that made sense as to why Eric wasn't eager to get out of his rags would be attachment.

Lupus sighed slightly and turned to Eric, leaning down so his bright red eyes were level with Eric's. "Memories are stored in here." Lupus tapped Eric's skull with a fingertip lightly. "Not worn on your body smelling like a sewer...Cause I'm going to remind you, you have been wearing that thing since we met in the sewers that first time. Yeah we've had chances to clean up since then, even wash out clothes, wearing your shredded uniform around isn't honoring them. I lost the staff my mother gave me I'm not sure when, but it doesn't bother me. Cause I have her memories in my head. I don't need an object to represent her...in fact...if I did I would have to say that would be taking away from her memory. She was so much more than a stick with some metal wrapped around it. Just like your friends and family from X-men shouldn't be reduced to rags. You can punch me in the nose if you really feel like you need to...but I don't think they would want to see you like this." Lupus braced himself for the punch he was rather expecting.

***

Rain was standing in the open door of the store with her backpack over one shoulder, listening to the chatter going on behind her as she looked out at the deserted street and the charred park beyond. It didn't take that long before she heard Landmine's voice behind her. "It wasn't a roach." Rain paused and glanced back over her shoulder at her former enemy "Huh? What wasn't?" Nathan folded his arms "You didn't see any bug, you noticed you didn't have your weapons." Rain returned her gaze forward "Nothing can be done about that now. They were just swords, I'm sure I could find some in a pawn shop around here somewhere." The loss of the swords tore at her, but with Carl gone she had to take his place, and that meant doing what she had been told repeatedly that she shouldn't do. Keeping her emotions locked away, so she could help the others deal with theirs.

"Oh ho ho....This is surprising...I would have expected you to throw an all out temper tantrum. But look at you...Being all mature about it. I'm impressed." Rain rolled her eyes "And you being a dick about it, not surprising." Landmine frowned slightly "Look...I'm sorry. You must be having a hard time right now, with Carl gone and everything that was familiar to you stripped away. But...If you do need to talk..." Nathan didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. "If I need to talk you would be the last person I would go to to do so. You may be familiar, Landmine, but you are stidll the person that hunted me for years. Just my luck the one thing I don't lose is the asshole that made my life a living hell. Go me."

Landmine frowned. It had been worth a shot he supposed, but it hadn't worked out as he had hoped. Rain didn't seem to realize it, but Nathan himself had lost everything familiar to him as well. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Rain was the only thing familiar that HE had left now as well. In fact, when he considered it at greater length, her and the Dreamweaver had been the one constant in his life for the better part of his life in the military. As dangerous as they were, in their current situation they made him feel pretty damn safe, despite the fact the hot tempered pyro could fry him if he looked at her wrong. "Well..Thank you Blaze. For not changing too much too fast at least."

Rain blinked and glanced back over her shoulder at Landmine who was already walking away.to find himself a change of clothes. "What the hell is that supposed to mean EHT?" But Landmine didn't reply as he vanished into the racks of clothes. Rain growled irritably before returning her attention to the charred park across the street. "It isn't possible for -all- life to be gone...not that quickly, there has to be at least animals left..." she muttered to herself in contemplation. But deep down she could almost feel the taint in the ground they walked on, as if the infection were lurking underground waiting...

[shadowrunner54]

The sharp little stamping on Eric’s foot by Lupus’ own pawed feet snapped him out of the stupor he had fallen in by seeing his sister in her dress. She skipped a little ways away from them in the happiest state that Eric could ever recall his sister being in. Once she was out of earshot, Lupus turned to him and began talking about his mother---and the staff she had given him. Eric remained quiet as he listened intensely to what he was hearing from his friend about how memories didn’t exist in object, but within ones own heart. The more he listened, the more Eric felt a much needed calm wash over his weary mind.

He hated to admit it, but Lupus was right. His clothes didn’t define his memories of his lost friends and family. They were merely physical remnants of what he knew remained inside of him. Dropping his head slightly as the realization of what he had been doing was grasped, Eric nodded in agreement.

“You’re right, Lupus.” he said with a weak smile. “It’s not the things that I carry on me that keep the memories alive. It’s my own will to hold on to them that makes that happen.”

Lupus laughed heartily and gave him slightly hard slap on the back. Eric stumbled forward a few steps, but quickly caught his balance. No that he was aware of how badly his attire was, he dared to take a sniff of himself. Having to fight down the gagging reflex from the horrible stench was all the proof he needed to know that he had worn out his garments a long time ago. Knowing that he had to find something new to wear, Eric began to slowly search out the store for respectable garments. Not that there weren’t quite a few items lying around, he just didn’t see how he could take himself seriously in a life or death battle wearing a preppy button up long sleeve with shorts cut above the knees. As he continued to search, Eric’s mind began to wander.

Looking at his sister out of the corner of his eye, and watching her search through various other outfits, Eric couldn’t help but think back on what Lupus had said to him earlier. He thought about how Lupus had mentioned his mother. It was the most random time for him to even be thinking of it, but memories of Grace’s mother came to Eric. He thought of her face and her gentle demeanor. Of the many good memories he had built in the time he had known her. He could still remember, although very vaguely, the day she had told him that he was going to be a big brother. There was also Grace’s first birthday, and how he had helped her so much with preparing the birthday cake. And so on and so on. Strange as it was, one of the most important memories that Eric had of her was the night that Xavier and Logan had taken them away from his abusive father. He vividly remembered the way she had looked at him with such adoration, and had told him with absolute conviction about how very proud she was to have such a brave and caring son. Although they had absolutely no blood relation, Eric had realized that night Grace’s mother had loved him as if she had given birth to him. Thinking about her, Eric looked over to where Grace was looking at herself in a mirror while comparing two separate dresses. She looked his way and smiled warmly. Grace had her mother’s smile, there was no doubt about that. And he was reminded of that smile she had given him on that terrible night.

Eric faked a smile for Grace before turning his head away. He didn’t want her to see his sadness, least she ask what was bothering him. Eric knew that he couldn’t lie to his sister, and the last thing he wanted to do was have Grace think about her mother. She didn’t need to be filled with that sorrow, not right now. Because there was no shred of doubt in Eric’s mind that their mother was dead, and was likely a grotesque corpse wandering aimlessly around their now dead world.

He hated thinking about, and not just because it added another layer onto his already complex level of suffering. The pain that it caused was a never ending fuel for his anger against the living dead, and the more angry he got, the more that burning fire within him manifested itself into a maddening hatred.

As Eric sulked into a far corner of the store to both look for clothes and brood over his dark thoughts, something caught his attention out the corner of his eye. Turning to it, he stopped in his tracks as if placed under a spell. Tucked away in the far corner of the room, obscured by several other easily forgettable articles of clothing, was an outfit. And not just any outfit. It was the one that he had been looking for. It was a complete ensemble. In fact, it didn’t look a whole lot different from what his X-men outfit used to. Of course, the suit given to him by the Xavier institute had been meant for extreme situations. This was just an outfit for casual wear, but damn if he wasn’t mesmerized by it. Suddenly feeling how scraggly he must have looked, Eric glanced around to make sure no one was looking before stripping off first his various items, then his outfit. Although he trusted everyone in his team with his life, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for any of them to see him in nothing more than a pair of low cut boxers. Placing the old X-men outfit aside, he began pulling the outfit off of the mannequin that it had been placed on. He pulled the pants on first, and was amazed at how well they fit. They clung tightly to his well toned legs, but not so much that they would impede movement or flexibility. He slipped the boots on next, and walked several times around the small corner. The boots felt good too. Although they reminded him of the kind that divers wore, they still felt sturdy enough to hold up against the extreme punishment that he was likely to put them through.

Feeling a lot better than he had before, Eric pulled the shirt off and pulled it down over him. An odd tingle ran through his chest as he did, causing him to pause for a brief moment. He then realized that the tingle was caused by a sense of total comfort. The shirt felt good on him. In fact, he could actually feel his muscles pushing against the thin fabric. It made him aware of how much he had built his body up in the time he had spent training at the Xavier institute. Funny, he had been training to make something of his life, only he never could have imagined just how important he was going to turn out to be. With a sense of nearly lightheadedness, Eric took the jacket off and held it up so he could see it. Although it really did look like a leather jacket, its material was closer to being the kind that his old outfit had been made of. An absurd though came to him as he threw it on. What if Xavier or some other X-man had patented the material of the X-men outfits and had marketed them? Now that was a funny thought for him to contemplate on, thinking that maybe in this world there had been a fade of wearing X-men style clothing. Well, Eric supposed, if the dead could come back to life, then anything in the vast expanse of the cosmos was possible.

With his new outfit firmly on him, Eric stepped in front of the mirror to examine himself. His face still looked like absolute shit, being covered in blood and who knew what else. But damn if he didn’t look at least a little good in the outfit. Sure, it was a little vain and shallow for him to think like that. But, by god, after fighting in so many life or death battles across two whole worlds full of living nightmares, hadn’t he earned the right to just feel good about himself for at least a little while?

“Looking good man.”

Eric looked over his shoulder to see Lupus leaning against the far wall.

“Thanks.” Eric said. “Feeling a lot better too. It’s nice to be out of those old smelly rags.”

Lupus flashed his canine jaws at him. “See, all you needed was just a little change.”

Eric chuckled lightly, smiling back at his friend. The smile vanished an instant later by the clattering of a coat rack nearby falling over. All the half-hearted demeanor between the died, and Eric immediately remembered that they were still in a world that had been destroyed on an apocalyptic scale. He could see the serious look wash over Lupus’ eyes as well as his large friend braced himself for battle. Eric immediately snatched up Thor’s belt and the Colonel’s shield. Once he had them both on, he grasped the Staff of One in both hands and began to slowly, cautiously advance towards where the rack had fallen over.

Not a word passed between them, but each knew what to do. As Eric took a defensive advance ahead of Lupus, he was surprised at how quickly they had both become battle hardened. Weaving in between the clothing stands, their eyes searched over every square inch of the darkened areas around them. Eric thought about trying to listen for any sounds or noises that were out of place, but immediately focused all of his attention on what he was seeing in front of him. If there was anything else amiss, he was sure Lupus’ large ears would pick it up. He was leaving a portion of his attention completely blind to rely on his friend. That was how much he trusted him.

As they neared the overturned coat rack, Eric heard a faint scratching sound coming from the other side of a rack that was still standing. Keeping the Colonel’s shield held defensively out in front of him, he looked to Lupus. All the hair on his friend’s body was standing on end and he had a serious gaze in his eye. They glanced at each other for only an instant, but it was all the needed to know exactly what they each expected from the other. They both nodded at the same time, each of their bodies poised and ready to unleash all of their respective might. Without another word, they both leapt around the side of the coat rack, ready for whatever lay on the other side. What they both saw left them stunned.

“It’s…” Eric whispered, gazing down. “it’s…a damn dog.”

Saying it was a dog was only putting it in the nicest terms. The creature before them was a pitiful wretch. Whatever kind of dog it was, there was no way that he could even try to identify it except that it was one of the larger breeds. No fur remained anywhere along its body. There was almost no mass to the animal, the poor thing looked like it had been living in a concentration camp. No worse, it looked like a skeleton wrapped in a thin layer of skin. Seeing them, it made one feeble attempt to rise. It only managed to get halfway up before the clearly visible strain became too much for the dog to manage and it collapsed to the floor in a pitiful heap. Although it was completely horrible to look at, the only thing that hadn’t changed on the animal was its eyes. The sad, pitiful brown eyes gazed up at Lupus first, then at Eric.

The dog gave one faint whimper before falling over on its side. Its eyes weakly closed and it gave one final exhale. After that, it didn’t move even the slightest inch. It was dead. Eric knelt beside the dog, examining it. He then looked up at Lupus.

“What the hell?” he asked, but didn’t really expect an answer.

[JessieWolf]

Rain heard the clatter of the clothes racks somewhere in the back of the store and rubbed at her temples irritably. Seemed the kids were busy wrecking the place. Not that it really mattered. They were certainly not going to be held accountable if they totaled the store, or even if they burned down the Empire State Building. There was no one here to care.

"Hey! You guys hurry up we don't have all day!" Rain yelled back into the store. Technically they probably DID have all day, but she certainly didn't want to take her time getting off this world. She had been trying to figure out a course of action while the others went about getting their new clothes. She figured that their best bet would be to hunt down a store that was intact and see if it had newspapers, that would give them an idea of the current events or perhaps even just a date. But ultimately all she really wanted to know was if the Baxter Building was on this world. That damn building was probably their best bet for getting off this world and onto the next one.

"For a smart guy, Mr Fantastic wasn't all that great at being subtle...What sort of idiot puts their base of operations in the middle of a highly populated area anyway? It is like painting a big bullseye on the city for fuck sake..." But despite that, she was rather glad that it was a very obvious building to spot. If the Fantastic Four had been the sneaky subtle types then they may have a harder time of finding their way off world.

***
Lupus stood there quietly with his ears drooped back as he watched the poor creature pass away. It hurt to watch and Lupus felt his eyes getting misty. "George...I want you to take it there...Don't argue just do it!" The green gem in Lupus' forehead glowed and a thin wisp of light curled out of the dog's corpse and was sucked into the gem. Lupus couldn't understand why he was having such an intensely emotional reaction. Was it a sense of kinship with another canine? He certainly hadn't felt that in the last world with the lycans. Maybe it was cause for all he knew he could have been related to that dog somehow. Whatever the reason his eyes had gone from misty to teary though he was trying to hide it.

"You're in a better place now little guy..." He stooped down to pick up the dead dog. The least it deserved after that much suffering was a proper burial. Which seemed to be more than most people had gotten on this planet. He didn't want this poor thing to just be another pile of bones left lying around. And for a few moments Lupus' emotions made him completely forget that it was indeed the dead that had been their enemy up until now.

[JessieWolf]

It all happened in a fraction of a second but Lupus felt as though he were seeing it all in slow motion. As his large furry hand neared the corpse of the dead dog it stirred and the dead mutt's eye shot open, sensing the hand that was near it. The dog suddenly snapped at Lupus' hand, who was only just barely able to jerk his hand back. The dog lunged to its feet quickly and launched at Lupus' throat with fangs bared. Fear was prominently displayed on the Morlock's face before there was a flash and his attacker suddenly hit him in the chest and poofed into a cloud of ash. Covering Lupus' white fur in grey ashen reminents of his attacker.

Lupus staggered backward and fell flat on his ass, his red eyes wide as the grey snow settled on the floor of the store. Slowly he turned his gaze toward Eric who seemed as shocked as he was. Then the shocked silence was broken by harsh words.

"What the HELL were you two THINKING!?" Rain stood there silhouetted by the light coming through the front windows of the store, her one red eye and one blue eye glowing. She had come back to get the "kids" to hurry up, when she ad come across them just as the dog sprang back into an animated state. It had been a pure reflex reaction that had saved the two. Rain wasn't foolish enough to try and claim it had been some skills surgical strike. She had incinerated that dog purely by instinct, without so much as seering a hair on Lupus' body.

"Get your things. We are leaving." Rain turned and started away from the two boys vanishing from sight through the racks and then the sound of the store door could be heard. Lupus stared down at his chest in silence for a long moment before he quietly climbed to his feet and dusted himself off. "I'm sorry..." Lupus muttered under his breath. It was unclear as to who it was directed toward, be it the dog, Rain, or Eric. Lupus quietly headed for the front of the store.

[shadowrunner54]

Eric didn’t know what to say to Lupus. What words could there be for what they had just witnessed? He didn’t know how this wretched creature had managed to stay alive for so long when everything else hadn’t. As he looked around at the barren store surrounding them, there wasn’t a single clue that could possibly answer that question.

Lupus, not surprisingly, was the first to move. He silently walked over to where the dead dog was lying, his tail hung low and unmoving. Lupus cautiously placed a hand upon the animal’s side, and a visible shudder ran through him. Eric said nothing as he watched his friend reach down to scoop the pitiful bundle of fur and bones up into his arms. Eric didn’t need to ask him what he was doing, it was sadly obvious. This one last insignificant speak of life in a desolate world deserved something more than to just rot away in the back corner of an abandoned department store. It deserved the right to at least have a burial.

Keeping his mouth shut, Eric fell in behind Lupus. Eric wasn’t sure how many of the others had seen them or the dead animal, but that was of little concern to him. What really mattered was seeing that this poor thing was given a proper resting place. Even if he had to dig a hole in the ash laden ground with his bare hands.

As they both huddled over the dead dog, Eric couldn’t help but feel a deep anger, one he had never been aware of before, simmer in his gut as he stared out at the desolate scene of destruction.

Just as that anger began to boil up inside of him, the dog suddenly sprang to life and lunged at Lupus. All the anger vanished from Eric instantly, replaced by the heart gripping fear that he was about to see his best friend killed in front of his eyes. The fear vanished instantly when the savage corpse of the animal simply exploded in a cloud of ash. Approaching footsteps caused Eric to look over his shoulder.

Rain stood not far away, her face twisted into one of anger with her red and blue eyes glowing. The surrounding light of the building cast eerie shadows around her, making Rain appear even more menacing than usual.

“What the hell were you two thinking?” she yelled at them. “Get your things. We’re leaving.”

Would it really kill you not to be a heartless bitch all the time? Eric thought to himself as he felt the anger returning to him as he watched Rain walk back into the store. What gave her the right to treat Lupus like that? He was only trying to do the right thing. Eric followed after Lupus, waiting a few moments before speaking to him.

“Lupus.” he said in a low voice. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You were just trying to do the right thing. Just trying to be human.”

As his friend looked over to him, Eric forced a smile in the hopes that it would cheer Lupus up.

[shadowrunner54]

Eric’s smile faded almost immediately after Lupus thanked him for both his friendship and support. Without saying what he was planning to do, Eric turned away from Lupus and focused his gaze on Rain’s back. He couldn’t explain it, but that anger returned to him once again as he thought back on how Rain had spoken to Lupus.

There was logic in what she had said, he wouldn’t deny that. But he also didn’t believe that she had been way too harsh about her words. Somebody needed to say something to her about her current attitude. Clenching his fists tightly, Eric marched after Rain and caught up with her as she was busying herself with something.

“Rain.” Eric said, in a tone that was sure to draw her attention.

Rain looked over her shoulder with her miss-matched eyes. “What do you want?”

The way she spoke wasn’t overly pleasant, nor was it hostile. It sounded slightly annoyed. Clearly Rain had other things to do other than talk to him. Eric didn’t care.

“I don’t know what kind of chip you’ve got on your shoulder, but don’t you ever take it out on Lupus.”

He had her full attention now. Rain stopped what she was doing and turned completely to him. Her powerful eyes glared at him with such strength that it seemed she could have incinerated Eric where he stood. Any other time, he would have backed down instantly. But not this time. He pointed back at Lupus, who now had Grace by his side.

“Lupus would lose everyone of his limbs just to save your life. The least you can do is show him a little sympathy.”

Rain looked like she was about to say something not very nice to him. By all rights, that should have been enough, but Eric didn’t stop. The words poured out of his mouth before he had realized that he has spoken them.

“Just because your boyfriend did a Houdini act on us doesn’t give you the right to act like a bitch.”

By the way Rain’s eyes appeared to suddenly ignite with fire, Eric had a strong suspicion that he had just really pissed her off. And strangely enough, he didn’t feel the least bit of fear as he stared her down. Only a simmering anger that felt very akin to the fire in Rain's gaze.